Learning Swahili Week 1

Hello everyone! Swahili has been on my list of languages for a while now and I’ve decided to finally start tackling it head-on. My reasons for learning Swahili aren’t too complicated but simple enough.

One of the largest lingua franca in Africa – yes I’ll be in Africa one day… its a must.

Some DNA tracing has uncovered that my great great great great grandmom was from Kenya.

It honestly sounds so melodic – If I could describe the sound of Swahili it would be something like a powerful roar of thunder cloaked with the notes of a flute… I know…deep right?

What am I using?

Glossika– I used to use Glossika for my Japanese a year ago, but that was when Glossika used the old system of downloading files onto your computer and having you manually, with care keep track of your own lessons. However, now Glossika has their own system similar to a flashcard set-up only with a lot more content than your basic Memrise course and with A LOT of audio. The idea behind Glossika is to burn things into your muscle and mental memory by repeatedly having you imitate the native speaker’s accent while reading a sentence. After you reach a certain number of repetitions or reps for short you would a jumped to a certain level in the course … as defined by Glossika.

Pen and Paper – With ANY language you HAVE to WRITE. I cannot stress the importance of writing enough. Looking at a computer screen and typing words aren’t enough, there are even studies which prove that writing helps memory. It does feel a bit odd writing this time around though because this is the first language I’ve written in Roman characters since Spanish in high school. It is easier on my brain though 🙂

Podcast 101 Audio: I found this neat little Swahili series on youtube that is beginner friendly. Podcast 101 also has many other language series too so feel free to check them out.

Italki: From the few times I’ve used Italki for practicing Japanese and Esperanto I’ve reaped many benefits. So I’m curious to see how I’ll do with Swahili. For those of you who don’t know Italki is a 1 on 1 tutor platform for foreign language studies. They have a variety of languages including Jamaican Creole (Crazy Right…). Problem is though, pricing can be a bit high if you aren’t careful. However, they do give you a trial of lessons when you first sign up. In addition, you can sign up by clicking on the logo below and you’ll get a free $10.00 in credit!